Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Price Target Raised to $297.00 at Barclays

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) had its price target hoisted by equities researchers at Barclays from $285.00 to $297.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 7.70% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on PGR. Bank of America cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $300.00 to $287.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Progressive from $327.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.71.

Progressive Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $275.78 on Friday. Progressive has a 1 year low of $201.34 and a 1 year high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $271.85 and a 200 day moving average of $257.20. The stock has a market cap of $161.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 33.79%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Progressive will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $969,024.07. The trade was a 12.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.94, for a total transaction of $2,759,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 258,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,199,142.56. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,317 shares of company stock worth $14,844,282. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Progressive

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Progressive by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 789 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 2,262.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 433,999 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $103,990,000 after acquiring an additional 415,628 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Progressive by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 11,889 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 3,534 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Progressive by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,069,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $255,882,000 after purchasing an additional 249,958 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Progressive in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,253,000. 85.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Progressive

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.